"Happy" by Schaffner Traditional Elementary

Thank You Schaffner: Square 1 Art Fundraiser

I just received my supplies I was able to order thanks to the large check I received from Square 1 Art. The parents at Shaffner are amazing! They purchased many items from the fundraiser and it helped my art program tremendously. 

Here is what I am doing with the funds:

2nd Grade will go to the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft and create clay masks. 

Every student will receive a poster with their self portrait project on it.

A mural will be created with the students portraits on it and it will be hung in Schaffner as a permanent art installation. 

Metal tiles were purchased for the 5th grade to embellish with tooling techniques and ink. Each square will be put together to create a large scale art piece to be hung as a permanent art installation.

I purchased these art materials for future art projects:

Class set of Crayola watercolor pencils

Class set of Crayola oil pastels

Class set of Crayola color sticks

Class set of tempera cakes

Crayola Tempera paint

Clay tool set

6 boxes of clay

Glazes in various colors

Edging scissors set

Kraft paper

Waldorf supply of beeswax clay

Magnetic architecture set

Watercolor paint refills

Embroidery floss

and more!

Most art supplies are consumable materials, meaning they are used and then gone. I have to replace materials often so having such supportive parents truly helps the students have art materials that help them create amazing art.

Many, many thanks!

The Big Self Portrait Poster Project

As a thank you to parents and the school for supporting me in my Square 1 Art fundraiser, I am going to give the gift of art to everyone. My students are creating self-portraits in various forms. I am going to have grade level posters made of the portraits to give the students. Each student will receive a poster that has their art along with their entire grade level on it. I am also having a mural created with each portrait on it to hang up as a permanent art installation in the school. I varied the types of self portraits the students created. Kinders created Roger Hargreaves inspired "Little Miss" and "Mr. Men" portraits. 1st grade created abstract portraits. 2nd-4th grade created realistic portraits that showed their individual personalities and 5th grade concentrated on their eyes. Some grade levels did my "2 Stars and a Wish" critique after completing the art. They gave great feedback to each other. 

Here are some photos of their incredible and awesome art. 

I love this students interpretation of the eye focused project. He said it didn't show the eyes yet it was all about the eyes. What an amazing thinker. Some students didn't get it but I totally get it. I told him it's an "artist-thing".

Welcome Back! 2013-2014 School Year

Welcome back to school! I am sending home my newsletter with students through next Monday. Here is the electronic copy of it. If you click on the photo it will enlarge.

 

 

 

2nd Grade Weaving Portraits

I do paper weavings with 2nd grade every year and usually have them turn the weaving into a fish or butterfly. This year I wanted to change it up and had them turn their weavings into portraits. They created clay masks this year so the portraits were a great follow up project connection.

Upcoming Projects: October 2012

After students assess their Square 1 projects, they will continue to stay busy in my art class!

Here's what we'll be working on in October:

Kinders: "Shapes" Mosaics
1st: African Symmetrical Masks
2nd: Pop Art, The Still Life
3rd: African Sunsets
4th: Native American Shields
5th: Kentucky Celebrations, Derby Style Art

The 2nd and 3rd grade students will be participating in the PTA Reflections contest with their upcoming projects. The 5th graders will be participating in the Derby Festival and Derby Museum "Horsing Around With Art" contests with their upcoming projects.

We also do "Be Creative" Centers every six weeks and students will be receiving their first "Art Store" paycheck very soon.

LVAA Grant: Received by Visual Art Teacher, Carolyn Braden

I received a grant a few weeks ago that will fund an art project I planned for my 5th grade students. Here is the article from the JCPS Monday Memo:

Kudos to Martha Bartlett, art teacher at South Park Teenage Parent Program (TAPP), and Carolyn Braden, art teacher at Schaffner Traditional Elementary. Bartlett and Braden were both awarded with JCPS Visual Art Supply Fund Grants, which they will use to initiate special visual arts projects in their schools. Bartlett will create a personal story quilt with each of her students that can eventually be passed down from generation to generation. They will reflect on their lives using journaling, memory, exploration, lifelines, and sharing to develop the significant life events into a story. Braden will create a ceramic relief tile mural for the Schaffner lobby with her fifth-grade students. The students will create a relief self-portrait on a clay tile that will ultimately form the shape of a dolphin, which is the school's mascot. Application deadlines for the Louisville Visual Art Association (LVAA)-sponsored JCPS Visual Art Supply Fund grant are Thurs., Nov. 15, and Sat., June 15. To apply, art teachers may click here and download an application. For more information, contact Jackie Pallesen at 896-2146, Ext. 104.


http://www.jefferson.kyschools.us/Pubs/MondayMemo/090312kudos.html

I am currently working on other grants that will hopefully fund even more great projects!

Carolyn Braden's Ish Lesson!

For the first day of art class, I wanted to continue my tradition of making sure students understand they should always have confidence in my class. Last year I read The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds and this year I read his book Ish.
For the lesson, they first watched a video I made of me reading the book. (I incorporated music and character voices and the kids seemed to really like the "video book" format.)
The 2nd-5th graders all folded their papers into fourths and made mini "masterpiece" frames around each box. I typed up about 75 "Ish" ideas and randomly gave each student two. They drew my two ideas and then drew their own two ideas.
I did guided "Ish" drawings with my first graders. We did four mini drawings. I taught the Kinders how to draw a fish-ish. Their art was magnificent!
This is a great first day back activity. It sets the tone for the year (never give up!) and refreshes their memory of direction following in art class.

Back To School August 2012

Welcome back! All students will be given my Art Star Newsletter during their first art class. If you'd like to view it on-line, here it is. Here's to a great year making young minds think as creatively as possible!

Carolyn Braden's KMAC Blackacre Camp Project Results

I taught this braided coil basket project to middle school age students at the Kentucky Museum of Art and Crafts. I'd say they did a fantastic job! Some didn't know how to braid, thread a needle or even sew. By the end of the lesson, they all picked up the skills and created creative baskets.